I have a 67 RS that has a date code stamped on the vin plate. It is stamped from the inside out, just like the vin. Is there any significance to the date being stamped in this manner? Sorry for the quality of the photo, I tried several times and could not get it any clearer.

Is that 096? Whats on the trim tag? Does the paint code start with an O?

Typically a car with a VIN plate stamped like that is a car that was ordered for something GM was involved with, a car show, a Zone car, the Indy 500, etc. It was used to indicate the start date of the warranty period regardless of when the car was actually sold to the public after GM was done with it. In this case the 5/50 warranty started in September of 66, didn't matter if the car sold in August of 67, or at the end of September 66.

Yes, its a theory. BUT, the stamp is done from the back indicating it was (could have been) done at the factory before the VIN tag went on, unless there were dealers out there removing the VIN tag, stamping them and reinstalling them with the correct Rosette rivets. the dealers were supposed to put a DYMO label on the tag where it says dealer DD (dealer Delivery Date) indicating the date the car was sold that would be used to indicate when the warranty period started. There isn't a lot of those left on the tags these days if they were ever used, since the dealer supplied folder for the POP indicated the day of sale anyways. Its tough to figure out what something means if there are only a few of them and they show up here and there during the production run. The only large group of cars that have them consistantly are the O-1 coded 67 pace cars, and these were produced by GM for a specific purpose.

Yes, it should be only the rear guards. The fronts were done by Chevrolet and wouldn't show on the tag. The version (3.68) of the decoder on my computer says rear guards.

Mark,Yes, the date was embossed on the tag by the plant for some reason. But of all the embossed tag I've seen, only the pacers have something to do with GM. None of the others have docs that connect them to GM.It could have been done for some other unknown reason. Hence why it should be labeled as a theory.

How was the conclusion or theory drawn that the code stamped has something to do with the 5/50 warranty? It seems like a strange way to keep track of warranty service work. How would a dealership know to even check the VIN for such a stamp? I thought they relied on the POP and used it like a credit card machine for any vehicle warranty service needing documentation so they could be reinbursed? I would think it might be more likely it had something to do with how the factory handled the car and was more specific to matching it to some kind of paperwork they were working from. Like the cowl tag was to Fisher would not the VIN tag be to Chevrolet?

The VIN on a 67 was inside the door, which was closed for 90 percent of the trip thru the GM side of the plant so it wouldn't be visible, so I doubt the number has any meaning to the factory itself. GM used the W/O number that is noted on the body and chassis broadcast sheets that was hand written onto the firewall of the tub, and the various parts of the front end clip with grease pencil to track the body thru the plant. All of the other parts specific to that car, ie not just a base part that had to go on every car, had tags attached to them with that number on it as well. This made sure that each part for a particular car got onto that car. The W/O number was assigned as the car was released from the body bank, and it was a sequential number starting at 0 and progressing forward throughout the day, then resetting to 0 at the start of the next day. It would be alot easier to see a 2 or 3" high w/o number on the firewall than to have to run over and look at a tag that was inside the door in the case of 67's, or on the dash for 68's and 9's as the car was coming into your station. Plus those numbers should be sequential since they were assigned as the cars left the body bank, while the VINs may jump around abit since they were assigned sequentially as the car came into the bank. Depending on the options on a particular car it may sit for a while in the bank before being released so the VINs get jumbled around some as they leave.

I have been able to find the bid number on a build sheet and on the vin tag and it was stamped in this format. It would look like something like C-67-141. Cars for the US Gov't usually had the bid# stamped on the tag and a second number like the one being discussed. I was looking at a 67 "Air Force" Belair wagon with a 03D body and 037 stamped on the tag in addition to the bid number.